Big Pilot Patrouille Suisse

In Context

At 46.2 mm it is a large watch — well above this catalogue’s 40 mm median, and enough to dominate a narrow wrist. At 15.8 mm it is a tall case, and it will catch on a cuff. The case back is closed, so the movement stays out of sight, and the sapphire crystal will resist everything short of deliberate abuse. 60 m covers rain and hand-washing comfortably; it is not a watch to swim in.

The movement winds itself from the motion of your wrist. 168 hours of reserve puts it well past a weekend — several days off the wrist and it is still going. At 21,600 vph the seconds hand advances 6 times a second, the slower and more audible rate of an older design.

IW 5009-10 is one of 4 executions of the IW base reference. Underneath they are the same watch; what separates this one is a grey sunburst dial and a stainless steel case. It was a limited edition.

Pellaton automatic winding with a seven-day reserve, running at 3 Hz with a Breguet overcoil hairspring and an 18K gold rotor weight. Pellaton winding uses pawls driven by a cam rather than a conventional reversing wheel, so it harvests energy from rotor movement in both directions and from very small movements — the reason a movement this slow-beating can fill a week's worth of mainspring in ordinary wear.

27 other watches in the library run the IWC 51011.

IWC

Portuguese Automatic Red Gold / Oriental Watch Co.

IW5001-22 · 42.3 mm

IWC

Big Pilot Stainless Steel / Silver / DFB

IW5004-32 · 46.2 mm

IWC

Portuguese Automatic Red Gold / Boutique Edition

5001 · 42.3 mm

IWC

Big Pilot Stainless Steel / Black / Boutique USA

IW5004-12 · 46.2 mm